Kansas Water Science Center
Publications
Highlights
A Decade of Measuring, Monitoring, and Studying the Fate and Transport of Triazine Herbicides in Ground Water, Rivers, Reservoirs, and PrecipitationBy E. A. Scribner, and E. M. ThurmanAbstractNonpoint-source contamination of water resources from triazine herbicides has been a major water-quality issue during the past decade (1990s) in the United States (US). Investigation of ground water, rivers, reservoirs, and precipitation have been carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey. Reconnaissance studies of ground-water wells in the midwestern US identified the relationship between land use, ground-water age, and concentration and occurrence of herbicides and their metabolites in ground water. The studies also described the frequency of herbicide detection in relation to analytical reporting limits, ground-water age in relation to the frequency of herbicide detections, and the presistence of metabolites. A reconnaissance study of 147 rivers was conducted to determine the geographic and seasonal distribution of herbicides. This study showed that large concentrations of herbicides were flushed from cropland and transported through the river system as pulses in response to spring and summer precipitation. The study also revealed the persistence of herbicides and their metabolites in rivers. Another study included 76 reservoirs located in 11 midwestern States which determined if the persistence of high concentrations of the occurrence and temporal distribution of herbicides and their metabolites in the outflow could be related to reservoir and drainage-basin characteristics, water and land use, herbicide use, and climate. The last sutdy investigated precipitation and included 26 States in the upper Midwest, northeast to the Atlantic Ocean, and northward to the Canadian border. The results identified the occurrence and temporal distribution of triazine herbicides and their metabolites in the Midwest. It was found the highest concentrations in precipitation occurred following herbicide application to cropland. Important findings of the 1990s studies included the persistence of herbicides and their metabolites in surface water. The result of these studies is that a clear understanding exists of the aquatic transport and partial fate of the traizine herbicides in the environment. Increased knowledge of the transport and fate of the triazines is an important goal of the monitoring effort of the past decade providing the data for monitoring exposure and toxicity of the triazines in the aquatic environment. Additional information about the Organic Geochemistry Research Laboratory can be found at: http://ks.water.usgs.gov/studies/reslab/Scribner, E.A., and Thurman, E.M., 2001, A decade of measuring, monitoring, and studying the fate and transport of triazine herbicides in ground water, rivers, reservoirs, and precipitation [abst.]: in Abstracts of the Eighth Symposium on the Chemistry and Fate of Modern Pesticides, August 21-24, 2001, Copenhagen, Denmark: International Association of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, p 121. To request a paper copy of this article, email: scribner@usgs.gov |
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
URL: /pubs/abstracts/bet.082101.html
Page Contact Information: GS-W-KS_info@usgs.gov
Page Last Modified:Thursday, 05-Jan-2012 16:11:37 CST
The USGS has collected hydrologic information in Kansas since 1895 with the first USGS Cooperative
Water Program funding agreement for 6 streamflow gages with the Kansas Water Board. USGS collects streamflow
and gage-height data; reservoir content; water-quality and water-quantity data; suspended-sediment data;
and groundwater levels. Hydrologic studies are conducted on national, regional, statewide, and local levels.
The USGS in Kansas works cooperatively with 31 Federal, State, and local agencies, such as the Kansas Water Office, the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers, and the City of Wichita